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The Journey - July 27, 2012

Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

I am not sure how this works with you, but here’s the deal for me—I don’t always know how to pray or what exactly to pray for. I want to pray for God’s will, but often it’s hard to know if I am praying for his will or mine. Today’s passage is the first step to praying for my will to match God’s, rather than God’s will to match mine.

To pray “in the Spirit” does not refer to a mysterious prayer language. The focus here is submission. When I pray “in the Spirit” I am submitting to the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit in my life, so that what I desire lines up with what God desires for me.

Paul says it like this in his letter to the Romans: “…The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Romans 8:26-27).